Travelin' Chucks » Word on the Street

Ben Thanh Market, Saigon

Kinsey — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:23:11 +0000

Name: Rosa Jensen

Age: 26

From: Lima, Peru

In the need for a little retail therapy and in Saigon?? There are two major markets in Ho Chi Minh City. One in the Chinese Market and the other is Ben Thanh Market. Avoid the Chinese Market unless you are in need of a blender. Just stick to the Ben Thanh where you can get great souvenirs and handicrafts.

Mountains & Beaches – Sapa & Nah Trang, Vietnam

Kinsey — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:50:49 +0000

Name: Jenny Benner

Age: 22

From: B.C. Canada

Beautiful Sapa is a jewel in the northern mountains!! Go for amazing trekking!! Make sure to organize your trip in Sapa and not Hanoi because the price can vary!! It is also possible to do homestays, which give you a great insight into the local culture!!

Nah Trang is a beach city on the southern coast!! Beautiful beaches to just chill at. Make sure that you hit up the “Sailng Club”, the best bar in Nah Trang!! Insanely fun and good place to meet people.

If you have time try and make it to Vin Pearl. It’s a small island off of the coast. It is only 100,000 Dong or $5 to go for the whole day!! There is an amusement park, water park and cable car on the island!!

Mudfest in Songpan, China: Word on the Street

Chelsea — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:32:38 +0000

Name: Faran Cohel

Age: 22

From: Israel

Songpan is a Tibetan village in the mountains 10 hours from Chengdu, China. Most travelers go horse trekking to Ice Mountain from Songpan. When you show up in Songpan there are plenty of guest houses where you can arrange horse treks for 1,2 or 3 days!! We opted for the 3 day trek!!

The first night includes a homestay with a Tibetan family. I enjoyed meeting and spending time with these people but the language barrier restricted our interaction.

It rained throughout the night creating fields of thick, brown mud everywhere!! And this was my first time on a horse!! It was sooo bad that the other travelers were falling off of their horses!! Not only was it muddy but the temperature plummeted and it began to snow!! This slowly was turning the mud into ice!! It got so bad that at one point we all got off of the horses and walked. This was not as easy as it sounds!! We kept falling and falling and falling. When we got back we were frozen to the bone, muddy and wet!!

This experience was hard at the time but truly amazing as well!! It was a stunningly beautiful place, the people were welcoming we just had some bad luck!! I would tell people to get your butt to Songpan and go horse trekking!! Only word of advise would be to go for one or two days and not three!!! … unless you are an experienced rider!!!

On the Hunt – Xi’an, China: Word on the Street

Kinsey — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:41:56 +0000

Name: Ola Hanovich

Age: 25

From: Israel

You Never Know What You Are Going to Get!!

The Terracotta Warriors are located just outside the city of Xi’an and it is the main reason most tourists come here… I know that was the main reason I was in the city!!!

While I was filling my time wandering around the city I met a girl from Malta who was on the hunt for “Pomero”. It is a traditional Chinese dish. It is beef noodle soup served with bread. It was supposed to very delicious. I decided to join her on her hunt for this meal, food is culture and I wanted to give it a shot.

We ended up getting lost and stumbled upon The Great Mosque in the middle of the Muslim Quarter. There we hid in the back and watched the Arabs praying until we were seen and booted out!! It was really fun and interesting to see!! After we had some amazing barbeque since it had been some time and we still had not found a place that served Pomero.

After about another hour or so of wandering the streets of Xi’an we decided to give up and go to the next resaurant that seemed nice. When we sat down and looked at the menu we saw that they served Pomero!!! It was Delicious and just what we needed after our long day!!!

When you are on the hunt for one thing in particular you never know what else you will find!!!

Holiday Fiasco – Beijing: Word on the Street

Chelsea — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:35:28 +0000

Names: Maarten & Philippe

Ages: 27 & 25

Hometown: Antwerp, Belgium

Beware of Chinese National Day!!

The Chinese celebrate their National Day with great zeal!!! At this time all 1.6 billion Chinese citizens takes time off of work to head to Beijing to be there for the festivities!! How is this going to affect your time in Beijing you ask?? Well Philippe and Maarten have the answer!!

As you can see by the picture they are blue eyed, blonde haired Europeans. What does this mean in China…celebrities!!! As they were walking around Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City with the other 1.6 billion Chinese they were constantly hounded for pictures!! It came to the point where they stood for ten minutes posing for photos as a “giant mass of Chinese people surrounded us taking photo after photo.” The waves of photo craving Chinese would not have stopped if Philippe and Maarten had not just turned on their heels and booted it away from the crowd and headed to the safer confines of the hutong, the traditional Chinese neighborhoods of Beijing.

Lesson learned: If you are a westerner and heading to Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City Expect to have many photos taken with you. Going to be in the Square near a major holiday??? Might as well avoid it outright!!

Art, Shopping and Scams – Beijing: Word on the Street

Chelsea — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:01:54 +0000

Name: Shaoli Ghosh
Age: 23 years old
Hometown: New Yorker!

Beijing is great for shopping! So bargaining is a must. There is this great place near the Yashow Mall called Nali Mall. Not crowded and amazing deals on great clothing and bags etc… I would go back to Bejing just for this mall. There is this great restaurant next to Nali called Alameda. It’s Brazilian and supposedly one of the best restaurants in Beijing. It was excellent!

My friend and I went to the bus area that takes you to the Great Wall, but there were none running, so we made a deal with a cabbie. From what I remember, it wasn’t a bad deal and he knew which part of the great wall was less crowded etc… so it was really convenient and easy.

Also, Chinese contemporary art is blowing up right now! so I recommend checking out this concentrated area of art galleries called 798 art zone.

And, cabs can be your friend in China, but the traffic can be monstrous!!

My Story in Beijing:

When I visited Beijing, I heard these stories about young Chinese people chatting up tourists (particularly Chinese girls going up to guys) and asking them out for tea. The tourist goes and ends up having to pay $200 or some other ridiculous figure for Jasmine tea. It can be a tourist trap so be careful! When I was at Tiananmen Square with a friend who luckily spoke Chinese, we were approached by some Chinese students. They were learning English and were really excited to speak to native English speakers. They invited us to tea. I was completely hesitant because of the stories, but ultimately they were just really curious about Western culture. I still can’t believe how friendly they were! But as I discovered, all the Beijingers I came across were all very kind.

Welcome

Kinsey — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:54:45 +0000

Ever wonder what life is like when backpacking to foreign countries?? We want to bring life on the road to you while we backpack across every continent!!! With only a sack on our back, never knowing where we will be sleeping at night, eating in markets with the locals, hoping on dangerous buses, and partying like they do in countries all over the World!! We will be videoing our trips daily so you won’t just read about it but see it in action!!!! Have any travel questions?? feel free to ask!